After the 2008 election

It's hard to put my feelings into words after the 2008 election. Elated, relieved, delighted, amazed. Verklempt. With renewed hope for the future.

I spent some time this morning catching up on election news coverage, and kept finding my eyes welling up as I realized what an amazing outcome this is -- for Democrats; for those who value diversity; for those who practice the politics of caring and unity instead of the politics of divisiveness and intolerance; for those who despaired of America ever being viewed positively again by the rest of the world; for those who believe in the power of positive thinking. I cared far more that Obama was a strong leader, with positive ideas and the willingness to listen, than that he was an African-American. But now that he's been elected, I'm just in awe of the incredible power and symbolism of an African-American, Hawaiian, Kenyan, Indonesian-raised, child of a single mother, "up from poverty," self-made, family-centered, post-Boomer, devoted husband and father of young children, 44th President of the United States.

I realize that no President can solve all of our problems, least of all after eight years of partisanship, executive overreaching, unilateralism, deregulation, overspending, anti-family policies[*], suppression of individual liberties, favoring big business and the wealthy at the expense of working- and middle-class families... But I fervently believe that the intelligence, bipartisanship, pragmatic liberalism, and respect for diversity that the Obama administration represents will make an enormous difference to our country, and to our ability to stand proud together as Americans.

GObama!

My Opinion (old but still valid)

I decided to move my opinion from my web page to the blog. Why not?
Maybe I'll add some more opinions soon. I have a lot of them (as you already know if you've ever met me...)

My Opinion

Posted after the 2004 presidential election.

Don't blame me. I voted for Kerry. I've officially lost all respect for the American voting public. I heard on NPR today that the populous states (NY, CA) thought the most important issue in the election was Iraq. They voted for Kerry. The central states, by and large, thought the most important issue was "moral values." Which is the Republicans' code phrase for "not letting other people live their lives in peace."

These people are so frightened that two people of the same sex might love each other that they're willing to sacrifice our international reputation, the economy, the environment, and our budget at the altar of their obsession. I'm sickened. By my standards, the morals of the people who have made that choice are appalling.

I'm tired of people with values of hatred, intolerance, and small-mindedness claiming that they're the one with morals---as though the rest of us don't have any. Guess what? We do. Generosity, integrity (the anti-Bush value), tolerance, and compassion. (Though I must admit I'm feeling mighty intolerant of intolerance at the moment.)

November 2006.

The country finally seems to have come to its senses. I hope that the new Democratic leaders are able to work in a bipartisan way to repair some of the damage that has been done to our country, and to our national reputation, over the last six years. I don't believe that the Democrats have all of the answers, but I do think they're trying to ask the right questions. If nothing else, the minimum wage should increase soon, after 9 years of the rich getting richer and the poor being stepped on.

Hello out there

I have these random thoughts now and then, which nobody probably cares about. But they're not exactly private, just of questionable interest to the world. So I thought, hey, everybody else and her sister has a blog, why not me?

So driving home today, I was thinking about what a great feeling it is when you have a routine that really works. I think this may be a feeling that is somewhat unique to massively perfectionist, type-A working mothers, but I'm not sure. What triggered it was that I had just checked the clock and realized it was 5:45 -- time to pick Caroline up from math -- went out to the car, started driving, remembered snack, ran back in, grabbed a juice pouch, beef jerky, and dried apples, and hopped back in the car. This feeling of well being swept over me -- this is how the post-math routine works; she will eat her snack, get home and be fed and ready to practice the cello for a few minutes before her lesson. Then I had it all organized so that I was in my exercise clothes when the cello teacher arrived, went for a run, came back and showered, and was ready to make her dinner after the lesson was over. Such an ordinary series of moments, but so elegantly choreographed, it could make me weep.

I decided to read the list of novels on wikipedia's ecofeminism page. Maybe I'll post some book reviews (or at least random thoughts on some of the books).

As Heather would say, "That was random." As I would reply, "That's the point."